A Secret, Book, and Scone Society Novel Book 8
Author: Ellery Adams
Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book (Audiobook & Audio CD Available)
ISBN #: 9781496743824
Kensington Cozies
304 Pages
$27.00; $13.77 Amazon
October 28, 2025
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It was a dark, rainy night at Nora Pennington's Miracle Books when a mysterious death brings the Secret, Book, and Scone Society into the Halloween season on the trail of a murderer...
As the residents of Miracle Springs, North Carolina, select their costumes, plan parties, and get excited for a night of tricks or treats, Nora joins in the festivities by hosting medium memoirist Lara Luz at the bookstore. Charismatic and compelling, Lara mesmerizes the audience with her life story. Struck by a bolt of lightning as a child, she was pronounced dead only to be resurrected with the ability to connect with those on the other side.
Lara performs a reading for a select group of bookstore patrons when the encroaching storm knocks out the power. In the sudden darkness, howling cold winds intensify, and Lara clutches her heart, collapsing dead without warning. But Nora doesn't believe she died of natural causes. Not one member of the psychic's reading group -- which includes the town's widower pharmacist, an urgent care nurse, a mystery author, and even truculent Deputy Hollowell -- were admirers of Lara.
Nora confirms this when she stumbles upon Lara's journal in the aftermath of her death . For within its leathery bound pages are the medium and her clients' deepest and darkest secrets, written in code, Now, Nora and the Secret, Book, and Scone Society must sift through the suspects and their motives to uncover which one of them is a killer before he or she is tempted to strike again...
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Nora Pennington, owner of Miracle Books in Miracle Springs, North Carolina, is surprised when an author wants to do a reading and signing at her small bookstore. But urged by her employee and friend Sheldon, she agrees. When that turns out to be successful, she organizes a mixed signing by several authors just before Halloween. Among them is Lara Luz, a psychic who wants to read from her memoir and then has agreed to do special readings for a small number of attendees. Among them are a widower, a nurse, and surprisingly, Deputy Hollowell, a K9 officer who's clashed with Nora from the day she came into town. But, if this is a success as well, Nora will be able to hold more.
Unfortunately, it isn't. The lights go out due to a storm, and Lara is struck down, supposedly from a bad heart. When Nora tries to help, Lara's partner pushes her, and Nora strikes her head and passes out. When she awakens, she discovers that Lara is dead, and she eventually learns that it was murder. Her own partner, Sheriff Grant McCabe, wants her to stay out of it because she received a concussion, but Nora and her friends are curious enough to want to know who murdered her -- Nora is concerned that her reputation will be tarnished by the murder in her store -- so they still do their own investigation. When Nora accidentally finds Lara's personal journal, she sees that the woman kept track of her clients.
But it's more than that. When she starts to decipher Lara's code, something sinister pops up...and it might just be the key to why Lara was killed...
This is the eighth book in the series, and I have loved them all. I have grown fond of the people in Miracle Springs, and have even felt for them and their own secrets and pain. Once you journey to a town in books, if the writer is good enough (and Ms. Adams certain is), you want to return again and again.
This book does not disappoint. I do not want to say too much about it, because I want the reader to enjoy their own travels to Miracle Springs. I will say that finding the murderer isn't easy, and the answers aren't always the ones that come with the clues. The conclusion was definitely surprising; the story was intriguing and even dark at times. But all this added to the suspense and the enjoyment of the tale.
Nora has her own decisions to face; Estella is looking at a new life to come forth; and even Hester may find some changes coming to her. But even the subplots are part of the main plot, and it's pulling you into the story almost from the start. I read this one through in one sitting, which I rarely do. All I can say now is that when you get the chance to read this, do so. You will not be disappointed. Highly recommended.
I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Ellery Adams's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/ellery-adams/
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